The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has reported that US raw steel production increased last week (ended March 7), with output rising by 6.0 percent from the previous week.
Total raw steel production in the United States last week amounted to approximately 1,038,000 net tons (nt), according to AISI. This figure represents and increase of 6.0 percent from the 998,000 nt produced in the prior week (ended February 28, 2009) but is down 51.5 percent from the 2,140,000 nt produced in the same week of last year.
Percent capability utilization of US raw steelmaking facilities was 43.5 percent in the week ended March 7, 2009, compared to 41.1 percent in the prior week, and 89.7 percent in the same week of last year.
Year-to-date, AISI reported, US raw steel production totaled 9,689,000 on March 7, 2009, which reflects a 52.6 percent reduction in output from the 20,421,000 nt produced in the same period of last year. Year-to-date percent capability utilization as of March 7 was reported as 43.4 which is down from the 90.5 percent YTD capability utilization rate for the same period of 2008.